fansinceforever wrote:The Real Dalic wrote:dice wrote:2 things have to happen in order for the cavs to win the title in 2016 w/ durant: he has to have a solid game in game 5 of the finals (lebron was great but didn't need to be - won by 15, went up double digits w/ 6 minutes left and never looked back). and he has to have a good game in game 7 (lebron wasn't making shots but had a good all-around game). i don't think anything else plays out materially differently on the season. so would durant have won a title? no idea. i'll lean no
this is a year later. and the cavs were not a great team this past season. their one and only notable accomplishment was thrashing the celtics in the ECF. and yes, they most certainly would have done that w/ durant in lebron's place. the celtics couldn't stop anybody on the team. it was freakish
durant arguably outplayed lebron in the finals head-to-head. they put up comparable numbers on the season. durant improved his game all around. he most certainly has an ARGUMENT that he is now the best player. and lebron will be a year older this coming season while durant will still be in his prime. maybe the finals were when the torch was passed
While I've firmly believed that Durant was the best player since his MVP season, it's easy to say he beat LeBron in the Finals due to all the attention that Curry, Green (for some reason teams don't just play this average at best offensive player one-on-one instead of doubling,) and Klay get. Durant had wide open spaces to do whatever he wanted. LeBron only had Kyrie to take attention away from him.
This is the point that ends the argument. LeBron would be skewered for having some of the past playoff performances/failures that Durant has had pre-joining a team that won more games than any team ever has.
what fans and critics have said in the past actually has no bearing whatsoever on who is the better player RIGHT NOW
and it's more that a little ironic that you're criticizing Durant for one-upping LeBron on the superteam concept that LeBron started. which LeBron decided to do based on his own playoff failures (the biggest of which occurred IN miami). so of course LeBron would be skewered for doing what Durant has done. he already WAS and already DID
it's quite possible if not PROBABLE that neither one of them has a ring if they stayed with the team that drafted them